Purulia : An MoU was signed Sunday between the Railways and the central power utility NTPC for setting up a 1320 MW power plant at Adra in West Bengal’s Purulia district.

Speaking at the MoU signing programme, Railway minister Mamata Banerjee said, “The project is not only a matter of pride for the people of West Bengal, but also the entire country.

“This shows that if there is a will there is a way," she said in an apparent jab at the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government for alleged neglect of development in Maoist-affected Purulia district.

She asked officials to ensure that the project was implemented within three years against a target of five.

“If the target is for five years, why cannot it be implemented in three?" she asked.

Railway sources said the power plant would be set up on land belonging to the railways which has agreed to co-operate with the union ministry of forest and environment for compensatory afforestation in 300 hectare.

They said the total project cost was Rs8,000 crore which would be financed through debt-equity ratio of 70:30.

The equity contribution of the railways and NTPC would be in the ratio of 26:74, the sources said.

The power from the plant would be transmitted to the Railway Load Centre in the eastern, northern and western region through national and state transmission networks.

Banerjee said that this was the second power project, railways was to build in collaboration with NTPC.

A 1,000 MW project jointly by the railways and NTPC was already coming up at Nabinagar.

At present the railways’ peak power requirement was 3,500 MW which was estimated to reach 6,000 MW in the next ten years.